


They Knew

by stardustsroses



Category: Six of Crows Series - Leigh Bardugo
Genre: F/M, Fluff, inej ghafa - Freeform, kaz brekker - Freeform, post-ck, pregnancy au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-23 07:32:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14929923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardustsroses/pseuds/stardustsroses
Summary: This was requested on tumblr:Anonymous said:  Hi, I absolutely love the kanej fics you recently wrote. I need more kanej fluff in my life and they were just so sweet and wonderful. Could you write something where Inej is pregnant and Kaz absolutely dotes on her?





	They Knew

Inej would not stop.

At seven months pregnant, she was still finding reasons to climb – what it seemed to Kaz – every surface she could find in the house. Once, not too long ago, he had found her climbing that rusty old ladder – the one that was already there before they’d even bought the house – just so she could reach for a book on the highest shelf in their living area. Kaz had found her wobbling on the damn thing, and he’d almost fainted. But Inej had reached for the book and just hopped off – as graceful as ever, her movements fluid as water.

If she was slightly bothered by the weight in her belly, Inej did not show it – she refused to stay inside the house all day, refused to sit for ten minutes straight, and insisted she did everything herself. Kaz frequently watched her pace around for no reason, after he’d offered to reach for this or that, or help her with that or this, that stubborn pout of hers making an appearance, a firm finger pointed at his chest as she told him that she was pregnant, Kaz, not ill, Kaz, I’m not incapable of doing regular things, Kaz.

Because climbing a crumbling piece of wood while carrying a child inside her was considered a regular thing in her mind.

“Just incapable of tying your laces,” he’d said with a grin, which was quickly wiped off when Inej had looked at him with a scowl.

In truth, he loved to provoke her sometimes. He loved to see that pout as she strutted to him, wiggling her finger in his face telling him how capable she was of doing anything. Inej hated feeling dependent, and that annoyance was only intensified as the pregnancy developed, naturally. Kaz was there in the good moments and in the bad. He’d give her the space when she wanted it, but kept close whenever the bad moods struck. In truth, in times like those, when her moods weren’t the best, he’d poke at her until she was red in the face – and then he’d take that lovely face in his hands and give her another completely different reason to blush bright red.

Life was good.

Nothing in the world would’ve prepared him for what he was about to expect – what both of them were about to expect. For years, they had lived dangerous lives, they had travelled far and came back with heroic tales to tell and victories to be celebrated. They had been King and Queen and they had made Ketterdam their kingdom. Kaz had made the city prosper in his own way and Inej had felt accomplished, finally, having done her fair share of damage to those who deserved it, and saved those too helpless to save themselves.

They had done it all. Side by side.

**

When Inej had told him, they were aboard The Wraith, on their way back to Ketterdam with a ship full of fugitives and former slaves. It had been a quiet night – the sea was calm, the waves silent and gentle; the water crashed softly against the ship, like nature’s own loving lullaby to them.

She’d been aloof all day – present but not present, there but not there – he had noticed it immediately. But there were things to be done, orders to get around, and plans to make – plans to get those people safely installed in Kerch, making sure their fate would never consist of slavery again – so he had waited until they were alone and everyone else was asleep, that very night, to come to her. He had found her leaning against the railing of the boat, her loose hair blowing in the faint night breeze, her eyes closed, her chin slightly raised, breathing in the salty smell of the sea.

He had a very similar image planted on his mind – they were several years younger, sitting together in his room at the Slat. Inej had been close to the window, and the sun had hit her face perfectly. She had the same peaceful, thoughtful expression. Kaz had looked up from the papers on his desk and he’d found himself completely stunned by her – he kept reminding himself to keep that image safe in the back of his mind, to remember the way her skin had practically shone, the way her hair curled around her temples and the way her mouth had curved into a simple, soft smile. He’d never seen anything more beautiful in his life.

She had heard him approach the railing, his slight limp giving his presence away, but her head hadn’t turned to him. Her eyes drifted down to the waves, her eyelashes kissing her cheeks. Her silence had never bothered him – they used to sit next to each other for hours without speaking, simply enjoying each other’s embrace – but that night he could feel there was something off: her jaw was set tight, her shoulders tense, her posture less straight.

He had leaned down slightly, her back turned to him, and his forehead touching the back of her head. Her hair, so soft and silky, flowing like the waves below them, tickled his cheeks. It reminded him of previous nights spent in each other’s arms; it called back broken images of her body on top of his, her face leaning down, her smile, so wide and bright and joyful, even at times playful, as she kissed his cheeks, his jaw, his neck, his chest, dark hair trailing down his torso, a blot of black ink spilling on the white sheets as she moved further down, down, down.

His hands had wrapped around her tiny frame, his lips had touched her temple – a gently, silent request that said Talk to me. Tell me what’s wrong. He waited patiently, giving her the time and space to decide whether she wanted him to know whatever it was that was in her mind.

Then Inej had taken a deep breath, and he felt her hesitate for a few short seconds. One small hand laid on top of his, squeezing gently, then her hand had guided his down, down – to her stomach, resting it there. He heard her swallow, he heard her intake another sharp breath as he looked down to where his hand was pressed.

The world went quiet. The sea stopped moving. There was a hammer inside his chest, banging on his heart. A hand closed into a fist punching holes into his gut. The air was suddenly sucked out of his lungs, black spots adorning his vision. The hand that wasn’t on her stomach gripped the railing, knuckles white, tremors on his skin.

Kaz had somehow managed to keep his grip on this world by chocking out, in a breathless whisper, “How long?”

“I found out during the night,” whispered Inej. Her gaze fixed on the dark horizon, and he could feel the slight shaking of her hand on top of his. “I called Alida, and even though she was busy with patients, she came to me and…confirmed it.”

Kaz said nothing. He forced himself to speak, but he was frozen on his feet, his body cold, yet somehow hot at the same time.

Inej’s voice was no more than a broken whisper, “I had my suspicions, but I didn’t think-”

But Kaz wasn’t hearing anything. He turned her body to him, searched her eyes and found his own reflected – wide and filled with tears. Inej had looked at him, holding her breath, her eyes silently begging him to say something, when he rasped out, “You’re giving us a child.”

Inej’s heart felt like it had stopped beating. The way he’d spoken – not with fear, not with anger, not with anything but-

“You’re…we…” If Inej hadn’t been scared out of her mind, she would’ve found it funny – Dirtyhands at a loss for words. But then a tear rolled down his cheek and he was looking at her stomach, placing his hand gently on top of it, and Inej…Inej had never seen that much wonder and adoration cross a set of features. Inej had never heard Kaz speak as if he was drowning in his own tears, as if he couldn’t contain the…

Happiness. It was happiness she saw glistening in his eyes. It was happiness she heard as he whispered to her, almost inaudibly, almost to himself, “A child. We’re having a child.”

“Kaz,” she’d said, touching his tear-stained cheeks. “You’re happy?”

Maybe it had been the shock of it all, she’d thought, or maybe something in Kaz had cracked him open at the revelation, because what she was seeing at that moment, was the man nobody knew; it was the man only present inside her bedroom – the man who smiled and laugh, and scooped her up in his arms and kissed her, and told her over, and over, how much she meant to him, how much love he felt only for her.

That was the man behind the mask. The one who showed raw emotion, the one who cared and the one who was trembling with happiness at the thought of being a father.

He had taken her in his arms that night. He had spun her around on her ship, his own limp forgotten, his whole sense of reality lost. He had kissed her cheek, her chin, her nose – all the corners of her face he could reach, and he had told her, word by word, in a breathless murmur, “Oh Inej. My treasure, my life. You’ve made me so happy.”

And she was shaking with shock, with happiness, with fear – looking at him being so genuinely happy, so…open, it had her heart soaring through the skies, it had pushed away any kind of doubts. Inej had smiled in his arms, touched his face. As she had looked at those smiling eyes of his, as she had taken in that unexpected burst of emotion that had come out of Kaz…she knew.

And he was trembling with terrified excitement as he held on to her, his mind spinning and spinning, picturing what his future would look like from then on. It was unbelievable, he thought. It was strange, so strange, the fact that one day, they were wielding knives and pistols, blowing up pleasure houses and slave ships, dooming some and saving others, then the next day they were a few months away from being parents.

Kaz had never thought that far into their future. Kaz had never pictured himself holding a new born baby with hands that had tortured and killed and scammed. But then Inej was smiling up at him, her lips were on his and he could think of no better future, of no better gift. With the love of his life in his arms, with the precious, happy future that awaited them…he knew.

**

Several months later, and his little Wraith refused to stop. But Inej and Kaz had come to an understanding; moving out into the country side was their priority. After all, they still had enemies – many more than before, and many more than they could count with both their hands – so it was important that Inej’s pregnancy stayed with their close group of friends and family. Second, Inej agreed to compromise: no more dangerous missions, at least for a while, and no balancing herself on top of any kind of rooftops. Kaz was quick to compromise as well, by leaving the Dregs at Jesper’s charge and going to the city only once every couple of weeks to check if everything was fine (for even though he’d never admit it, Kaz trusted Jesper with his life, and more than that, he trusted Wylan to keep his boyfriend in check – so really, Kaz had let Wylan take the charge of everything – and so far, so great).

And they were happy.

Kaz woke up every morning twisting that word in his mouth. Happy. How strange it all was. How grateful he felt.

But then in that particular morning, as Kaz rolled onto his front, he realized his Wraith wasn’t with him. Sleep clouded his eyes and he blinked, looking around the room, reaching for a missing body of warmth. He sighed, stretched his bad leg, started to yawn when the sound of clattering mugs startled him.

He was out of bed in an instant, pratically throwing himself down the stairs and running to the kitchen – to find Inej perched on her knees atop the kitchen counter, reaching for the coffee mugs.

“Inej,” he muttered, leaning against the door frame.

She looked toward him, mugs in her hand, smiling brighter than the sun outside their window.

“Good morning,” she said. “Don’t look at me like that, this isn’t a ladder, or a roof, for that matter-”

“No,” Kaz said, wiping the sleep from his eyes and moving to her side, attempting to help her get off the top of the counter semi-safely. “But it’s still-”

“Do you honestly think I’d purposefully endanger this child?” She shook her head, hopping off the counter before Kaz even reached her, as graceful as a ballerina. Saints, he loved her. “Hum?”

He caught her in a good mood, he noticed. She placed a hand on her hip, narrowing her eyes at him. He wanted to scoop her into his arms and-

But then Inej’s features went taunt. She disregarded the mugs carelessly, holding herself onto the counter with one hand.

Kaz reached her immediately, searching her face. “Inej? Lov-”

Inej gasped, and in the same second grabbed his hand, placing it over her stomach. Kaz opened his month, concern drawn in every feature, but then –

He looked at her, looked at his hand. Then –

“You felt it?” She asked, her voice low, her eyes wide and bright.

Kaz said nothing, his attention completely turned to the feeling under his hand. A few seconds later, and there it was again, then again, then again – kicks.

“I told you,” Inej said, placing her hand on top of his. “He kicks every time you’re around.”

He’d never felt him – every time, Inej would practically scream at Kaz to come quickly, and then he’d place his hand or his ear on her stomach and every single time, there was nothing. The little one seemed to have the perfect timing to stop moving.

His mouth curved into a smile. “I feel him.”

Inej smiled, leaned up on her tiptoes, touched her lips to Kaz’s jaw. “Come here,” she said. Then she led them to the cosy living room, sat down on the plump couch. Kaz did the same, watching her lift her tunic, to reveal now a big bump. Low on her side, there was a little lift, and that made Inej frown.

“He’s restless today,” she said, taking a breath.

Kaz seemed to be in a world of his own, his eyes glinting with fascination as he leaned down, placing his lips where that little one’s foot had kicked. His hands cupped the warmth of her skin, caressing the softness, placing little kisses where he could reach.

Inej pushed his hair away from his forehead, her fingers moving tenderly over the dark locks – the same ones she imagined her child would have – and sighed contently. Kaz raised his eyes to her, his smile contagious, almost child-like. Inej whispered, “Here,” and guided his hand a few centimetres down her stomach, and counted the seconds in her head. One, two, three, fo- Kick. Kick.

A laugh burst from Kaz’s mouth as he observed and felt his child. As he looked up at Inej, he saw the same joy he felt in her smile, in her eyes. As he leaned down to kiss her, there was another, and another, and then two more.

Inej was furrowing her eyebrows, but her smile didn’t falter. “Saints. He only moves when I do,” she raised an eyebrow at Kaz. “Whenever I spend too much time sitting down, he stops.”

“That’s why you’re so energetic all the time?”

She shrugged. “Mostly yes,” Inej admitted. A pause. Then another smile as she softly said, “I like to feel him move. It’s…it feels much more real. It frightens me when he doesn’t kick for longs periods of time.”

Kaz placed a long, lingering kiss on her lips. He pulled away, smiled down at her, then touched his nose to hers, the way he always did after kissing her. “You keep calling it a ‘he’. You think it’s a boy?”

“I know it’s a boy,” she said.

“How?” Asked Kaz.

There was a little pause as Inej looked down at her stomach. Then she said, “How did you know I was there that day when you took charge of the Dregs? How did you know that I was always perched on a rooftop, looking over you? How do you always know where to find me?” The smile she gave him was nothing but tender and loving. She reached up, touched his cheek. “You felt my presence there, every time, didn’t you? Like a sixth sense. It’s the same with him,” she pointed her chin at the bump, guiding his hand as Kaz gently caressed her skin. “There’s no way I can explain it. I just know. Like you knew.”

They stared at each other for what it seemed longer than forever. Eventually, the little restless one became not so restless, and Kaz and Inej felt him slowly steady inside her, as if he was dozing off into a deep sleep.

Inej closed her eyes.

Kaz watched her face, the little smile that adorned that face he loved, watched her hand still over his, her fingers gently caressing his own, her touch light as a feather.

His nightmares had stopped.

Sometimes, when he was forced to shake hands with someone new, the nausea came back, sometimes his thoughts would go back to the coldest of waters, to the hottest of fevers, and he’d feel planted on the ground, yet drifting slowly away. But then Inej was standing next to him, and her touch was warm, and the memory of her lips had him regain his composure. For the greatest part, everything was fine. Everything was better. Jordie no longer haunted his dreams.

There wasn’t a part of him stuck to the past. Kaz had learned to let go and live – he had learned with her. And he would continue to learn, one step at a time, breaking barriers and walls and obstacles. He’d protect her and their child. And no harm would ever come to his family.

Ever again.

Lying down together on the couch, Kaz and Inej felt like they had all the time in the world – and indeed, time was theirs now. There wasn’t any rush, there wasn’t any eminent dangers, nothing crazy to worry about. All their priorities faded away, all their focus placed on the family they were building. They travelled, far away from the city, exploring new places in Kerch, they walked the countryside, they took advantage of the clean air and the sun on their skin – and they were calm, and they were happy.

Sometimes Inej’s parents would come around, sometimes the house was full with Nina and Jesper and Wylan – there was always laughter, and smiles, and drinks. Kaz couldn’t have imagined this for himself. Sometimes he thought he didn’t deserve it, but then, looking down at Inej, at the quiet happiness in her features, he would think damn it all to hell – damn everything he had done. He did deserve this. They both did. They deserved a family, and they deserved love, they deserved to be happy.

Kaz deserved a family. He deserved the love Inej had given him. He deserved the happiness she brought him, the happiness their child and their friends brought him. He deserved it all. And he would make sure they would stay like that for the rest of their lives.

“I can’t wait to hold him,” Kaz whispered all of a sudden. “I can’t wait to have him in my arms.”

He expected Inej to be asleep – she loved sleep more than she would like to admit these days – but slowly, she opened her eyes and looked up at him. Pulled him down for a long, gentle kiss. She murmured, “Soon.”

“I hope…” he stopped himself. A deep breath. Then he said, “I hope I can do it.”

Inej knew exactly what he meant. She took his face in her hands, held his gaze, said to him gently, yet firmly, “You will, Kaz. You’ll be able to hold your child. He will love you so, so much.”

He looked down, away from her.

But Inej wasn’t having any of that. She touched his chin, turned his face to her. “Do you trust me?”

He didn’t hesitate. “With my life.”

“Then trust me,” she whispered. “Trust me when I say there will be no barriers between you and your son. Your heart is pure, Kaz. Your son will accept you.”

Her words formed a knot in his throat. Kaz smiled, enveloped the woman of his dreams in his arms, and he decided to keep trusting her words with all his strength.

Inej smiled in quiet contempt, her lips trailing lazy kisses over his jaw. “Never doubt me, Kaz.”

He pulled away only a fraction of an inch to look at her. He held up her hand, kissed each knuckle, eyes firmly fixed on hers. “I will not doubt you.”

Because if he was strong enough to withstand the waters, he was strong enough to hold his child. No matter how difficult things got, they would always have each other. No matter how high the tide came to be, Inej and Kaz knew they would always rise to the surface. There was no better gift, no greater blessing – than this. What they had created together. They knew it – there was no better life to be lived.

As they held on to each other that morning, sometimes stealing lazy kisses from each other, sometimes watching, in silent wonder, their gift, their blessing, move and kick…they knew.


End file.
